What do you want me to say?
by MaryJ43
Summary: My take on the 9x24 finale. One Shot.


**Here is my one-shot for the finale. I hope you like it. And also, I will update Best Friends and Unfortunate Roommates this week... hopefully.**

**Characters don't belong to me.**

Meredith sat in the Sloan-Grey Memorial Hospital's cafeteria for the first time in a week; she wasn't wearing her navy scrubs and felt slightly out of place. She was twisting her fork in some questionable spaghetti, watching in horror as the runny sauce dripped from her noodles.

"Jeez, don't vomit. That is supposed to stop when you no longer have a fetus inside of you," Christina commented as she watched Meredith's face twist with disgust.

"I don't know." She threw her fork down. "Three days ago, I was being force fed hospital food around the clock. My appetite has not rebounded nicely." Christina nodded as she stuffed a few fries into her mouth.

"I'll eat it, if you don't want it." Alex pitched in from across the table.

"Back off. If she isn't going to eat it, Lover Boy, then it's mine. I'm her person, therefore I get dibs first." Alex rolled his eyes at her new favorite nick name. It quickly rolled off his shoulders as he was blissfully happy for the first time in a long while, but something was still bothering him.

"You know she still hasn't said she loves me," he muttered between bites. "What the hell is that about? I told her a week ago and nothing," waving his fork across his neck to enhance his point.

"Calm down," Christina said casually. "Not everyone tells someone they love them before they have even kissed."

"Shut it." Alex glared at her as she smirked evilly back at him. Jackson unknowingly walked into the argument, pleasantly surprised by Meredith's reappearance.

"Grey! What are you doing here?" He pulled a chair out beside Meredith and plopped down, setting his tray on the table.

"Baby Bailey is getting a checkup and was supposed to check in with Dr. Bailey, so we just made a day of it. I think Derek is running around showing off the baby and I have a few moments to rest my nipples."

Neither man was able to comment as the perky, red-headed trauma surgeon joined them at the table. Upon noticing the only vacant chair was the one between the Jackson and Alex, she pulled a chair up to the other side of Christina, actively ignoring Jackson's eye roll.

"So I just saw the baby, so cute; and that hair!" April smiled brightly and tucked a curl behind her ear as Meredith blankly looked between the former lovers.

"Yeah, we got lucky. I was bald until I was two." She wrote off the palpable tension as the normal back and forth between the two. One was always pissed at the other. "Speaking of, I need to find them. I want to visit Richard before we leave."

"I saw them about five minutes ago in radiology." Meredith gingerly stood up, sliding her plate towards Christina, who taunted Alex by exaggerating a huge bite. "I'll be back to work soon."

"I hope so. With you and Webber out, I'm drowning here," Jackson whined. "Some of the owners aren't picking up any of the slack." He looked pointedly at Christina who just innocently gazed back at him.

"Oh, cry me a river. I know owning a hospital is difficult and all but do you have to whine about being the boss." April glared at him from across the table. Jackson just looked at her wide eyed while the other two attendings grabbed their food from the table.

"I am not sticking around this, it literally makes my skin crawl." Christina strode away with Alex on her heels as the pair scowled at each other.

They continued to eat their food in silence, neither one willing to start a conversation. They stayed this way until both had finished their lunch. He followed her into the elevator and then into an empty exam room.

She sat down on the chair and began to mess with the tablet she had brought with her. Jackson took a seat on the side of the exam table and watched her. The tension between them was unbearable.

"Did you hear that Webber came off the ventilators? My mom was over the moon. I'm glad she is completely focused on him for a change." He looked at her expectantly.

"Hunt told me earlier. That's great." There was no emotion in her voice and she never spared him a glance.

"What are you looking at?" He was trying anything to lessen the crushing irritation she seemed to be feeling towards him.

"Just some test results." He nodded and stared down at his Jordans.

"April, when are you going to stop being mad at me?" he asked quietly.

She looked up at him them, meeting his sea green eyes bravely. "When you make love to me."

Jackson groaned at her comment. "No." He put all the conviction he had in the one word. She glowered at him before returning to the tablet in her hand.

"Well.." she said flatly.

"Come on, I want to this right this time." He was nearly pleading with her, needing her to understand, he wanted her, God did he want her, but he didn't want to make the same mistakes and repeat their history.

"Jackson, I know, okay." Her face softened only a smidgen and her hard tone was replaced by a desperate one, "I get it, I have flipped out on you about sex so often you are a bit scared, but I have not had sex in a long time. And I need it, I need you." She let out a huff of frustration as she continued. "It hasn't been that long for you, you know since you and the intern were screwing like bunnies, but I haven't had sex since well before Christmas."

"No." He said again as he lay back on the table. "I am not messing this up this time. We are going to do this the right way. "

"But, we already have…" She tried.

"No. You are a born-again virgin and I will be damned if I am going to make that mistake again." He hated how harsh it sounded and didn't look at her, knowing the hurt expression that would cover her face. "And could you stop being so mean and uptight towards everyone? You are scaring people."

He looked over at her, she had gone back to reading the tablet and her curls were pooled behind her ears. She smirked before looking up at him and giving him a devious smirk. "You know what would help with that? An orgasm."

Jackson's lips slightly parted at her statement. "You need… to stop talking… please." He hated when she got confident and sexual because his resolve would slip.

"Jackson..." She finally set the tablet on the counter beside her. She walked up to him, slipping her hand into his and interlacing their fingers. "Did you ever think that maybe I was supposed to give my virginity to you that night?"

His eyes snapped to hers and his brow wrinkled in confusion. "Wha.."

She interrupted him and continued softly, thoughtfully, "I mean, you would have never thought about me like that if I didn't kiss you that night and tell you it was okay. Maybe I was supposed to be with you. And maybe that explosion was a sign that I wasn't supposed to be engaged to someone else. Maybe… maybe it was a sign that I need to be with the one person that I cannot live without." She smiled sweetly at him as he gazed at her, utterly mesmerized. "I think that maybe I was reading the wrong signs, thinking that Matthew was what God intended for me when really it was you. I read those signs wrong because I was scared. But I'm not anymore. I know that I am meant to be with you. What I feel for you is something that I have never been able to shake, and every time I thought that I might just have done it, the universe goes and puts me right in front of you. So I am done reading the signs wrong. I am never going to let you go again, and I am never going to let you let me go either."

He carefully considers her words, letting them play a few times over in his head, soaking in the knowledge that she truly believed that they were something that was meant to be. He looked down at their interlaced fingers.

"Does that mean you want to marry me someday too?" He looks up at her then and her breath catches. She is lost in his eyes and words.

"Too?" she whispers.

"Yeah." He smiles at her and she giggles.

"Yeah, I definitely want that someday. You are the only person I want that with." She whispers as her eyes fill with tears.

"Fine, you win." She looks back at him, not knowing what exactly he is referring to. "Tonight, me and you." He clarifies. "But it will be on my terms. There will be candles… and flowers… and music…" And his mind starts filling with fantasies as she stares intensely down at him.

"Whatever you want!" She says excitedly, leaning down to cover his mouth with her own. She barely manages to get her tongue in his mouth when the door opens. The two spring apart as Callie stands in the doorway staring at them in exasperation.

"Again!" She shouts at them. "Jesus, you two. I swear I am going to start carrying around a spray bottle and squirting you with it."

The both mutter apologies as Jackson shrugs off his shirt and Callie begins her exam.

* * *

_"Unless you can give me a reason not too." She looks at him expectantly. She has her heart in her hands, giving him the power to do whatever he wants. She knows he has every right to throw it back at him because he should. She doesn't deserve anything else._

_He continues to stare at her. And she stares back, giving him a moment, letting him decide._

_He looks down at his lap, his face still not giving away anything and panic starts to creep into her bones._

_"What do you want me to say, April?" he whispers softly, "I can't tell you not to marry him, he is perfect for you, and we don't make any sense, we don't work." His eyes are a bright blue as he looks back at her and she decides that this is her chance. This is what their relationship has always needed, honesty and openness._

_"How about 'I want you too,'" she says slowly. "Or 'I need to be with you too,' or 'I'm in love with you too," she answers valiantly, taking steps closer to him, fighting for him. His eyes are wide and his brain is swimming with emotions. _

_"You mean that?" he asks cautiously, she is so close to him now he can feel his body responding to her proximity. His skin prickles with the electric current that seems to flow through him whenever he is near her. _

_"Of course." She says simply as if it is law and he is done._

_"I love you too." He raises his good arm to tangle it into her hair and bring her mouth down to his and he feels like he is home again, where he is supposed to be. It seemed like seconds when the two broke apart for air and Callie opened the curtain noticing the way they were both panting, eyes hooded, and mouths swollen._

_"Kepner! Didn't I tell you to take a walk? Don't you have a paramedic to get back to?" She is practically screaming and neither one of them miss her red puffy eyes and broken posture._

_"Uh, yeah.. I'm sorry. I'm gonna go." She smiles hesitantly at the women before looking back at Jackson. "I just have something I need to return." They share one last meaningful gaze before she is shoved out of the room. _

_Jackson can't help the smile that is plastered on his face. He looks up at Callie, who is tightly wrapping his arm, "She loves me." He informs her proudly._

_"And in a year, you will be drunk at a bar wishing she was back on that damn farm," the orthopedic surgeon continued with her task as Jackson continued to smile uncontrollably. _


End file.
